Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Challenges and Initiatives in California

Case Study in San Francisco Bay Area

This research will be conducted in partnership with the Department of City and Regional Planning and the Global Metropolitan Studies Program at the University of California, Berkeley. Benoit Lefèvre, who is in charge of the project, is spending several months at Berkeley, with the support of Veolia Transport.

The San Francisco Bay Area consists of 101 cities and  covers 1 040 square kilometres, and is home to 7.1 million people. It is one of the wealthiest regions in the United States. The combined urban area of San Francisco and San Jose is the 47th largest urban area in the world. The Bay Area's population will grow by about two million people over the next 30 years. Car travel in the San Francisco Bay is increasing at more than three times the national per capita rate. The issues of climate change have a local twist: it is altering the Bay Area's long-running debate over how and where to grow. Officials suggest that some bayside areas may need to be abandoned in light of studies that indicate that San Francisco Bay could rise several feet by 2100 because of sea level changes (water could, for example, cover portions of the Oakland and San Francisco airports).

California's ambitious climate initiative aims at reducing GHG emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 - a reduction of about 25%, and then an 80% reduction below 1990 levels by 2050. Assembly Bill 32, signed into law in 2006, is the first statewide effort in the United States to limit emissions from every major source of global warming pollution. 

Even if diffusing green technologies is the main answer, compact and transit-oriented building is considered among the most effective means of reducing driving, cutting greenhouse gas emissions and creating better-functioning cities.

The objective of this research is to examine the challenge of finding a balance between mitigation and adaptation at the local level, to assess the policies that aim to tackle these issues, and to determine how a territorial approach – integrating transport and land use – could be part of the answer.

The focal questions of the project are: How is the State’s initiative implemented at the local level? What will be the necessary effort from each sector? What role will green technologies play in reducing energy consumption? What can be achieved by improving existing infrastructures (versus implementing new strategies)? What role will be played by the territorial approach in fostering urban energy efficiency and at the same time ensuring adaptation to rising temperatures and sea level?

Contact:  Benoit Lefèvre